Bloomberg reports that the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) consortium is shutting down its CurrentC mobile wallet business that was designed to compete with things like Apple Pay and Android Pay, and is instead "refocusing on supporting partner JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s mobile-payment service," called Chase Pay.
The consortium is made up of companies like Target and Walmart, which actually has just introduced its own new mobile payment service ... called, inevitably, Walmart Pay.
The story says that MCX "removed its wallet, CurrentC, from the Apple App Store last weekend. The last day for consumers trying the app to use it is June 28, CurrentC said on its website June 6. In May, MCX said it would fire 30 staffers -- or about 40 percent of employees -- and postpone a nationwide roll-out of the service."
In its story, CNet writes that "Apple and other companies have introduced their own payments systems as a way to gain a foothold in the burgeoning mobile payments market. So far, mobile payments have yet to carve out a significant slice of retail transactions. But the companies involved believe consumers will increasingly use their phones to purchase items on the go as the process gains greater support from banks, merchants and other parties. Of all the systems out there, Apple Pay is the leader so far."
The consortium is made up of companies like Target and Walmart, which actually has just introduced its own new mobile payment service ... called, inevitably, Walmart Pay.
The story says that MCX "removed its wallet, CurrentC, from the Apple App Store last weekend. The last day for consumers trying the app to use it is June 28, CurrentC said on its website June 6. In May, MCX said it would fire 30 staffers -- or about 40 percent of employees -- and postpone a nationwide roll-out of the service."
In its story, CNet writes that "Apple and other companies have introduced their own payments systems as a way to gain a foothold in the burgeoning mobile payments market. So far, mobile payments have yet to carve out a significant slice of retail transactions. But the companies involved believe consumers will increasingly use their phones to purchase items on the go as the process gains greater support from banks, merchants and other parties. Of all the systems out there, Apple Pay is the leader so far."
- KC's View:
- Tough business to be in, I would imagine, especially if one of your member companies is testing a competitor to one of your core products. That does't strike me as act of faith in the consortium's work. That said, I'd bet on cell phones being a dominant way to purchase things someday ... unless we get to the point where cell phones are obsolete technology because of some other innovation.
